It is very easy to manipulate the optical proximity effect (OPE), when the new concept of the post-exposure bake (PEB) processing is suggested. By changing the temperature of the PEB, the bias of the line width between the packed lines and the isolated line varies drastically. The OPE is thus faithfully controllable through the PEB processing. On the other hand, by putting the experimental data in contrast with the theoretical simulation, the OPE is resolved into the resist effect and the optical effect. The resist effect could be eliminated by lowering the PEB temperature, while the optical effect is reduced from choosing a proper stepper illumination setting, NA & (sigma) . Moreover, the linearity and the line-end shortening also get benefits from this new process.